BoA is parting ways with SM Entertainment after 25 years together. But in an industry known for it’s speed, will her pioneering influence finally be acknowledged?

IN LATE 2022, BoA released “Forgive Me", a song where the singer declared she’s not looking for anyone’s forgiveness. The song was personal for BoA; for the past few years, she had received an alarmingly large amount of hate from people criticizing her appearance and questioning her ambitions.

“When I wrote the lyrics, I was really mad,” she said on a VLive broadcast promoting the song and album. “Come to think of it, I was wondering whether I’ve ever expressed my rage before. That was something I haven’t done in the past 20 years.”

For the next few years, BoA began to retreat from the spotlight. She began publicly speculating that she might retire. Last year, she released Crazy, an album meant to celebrate 25 years in entertainment, but her heart didn’t seem in it, and the music was her weakest release.

As her contract renewal period approached, fans speculated whether BoA would choose to stay at SM Entertainment, she had called home since she began as a trainee in 1998.

Yesterday, SM announced that they would mutually part ways with BoA after 25 years together. “BoA has been, in every sense, the pride and symbol of SM for 25 years,” the agency said in a statement. “Although her exclusive contract has ended, we will continue to support her future activities and challenges.”

BoA’s departure from SM, where she also serves as creative director of NCT Wish, is a blow to the agency. For years, SM has established itself as one of the few companies to retain top legacy acts. Many idols from the first and second generations, including members of SHINee, Girls' Generation, SUPER JUNIOR, and H.O.T soloist KANGTA stayed at the agency. But since the departure of its founder, Lee Soo-man, in 2022, many idols have chosen not to renew their contracts.

BoA’s decision to leave the agency is not surprising. She has seemed disillusioned with idol life for years now, and she rarely promotes her music. While her 20th anniversary was celebrated with a huge marketing campaign that culminated in the release of her tenth album, Better, her latest anniversary was decidedly more lowkey.

It can be argued that there would be no SM without BoA. While her debut at 14 with I.D.; Peace B was not a smash hit, BoA found international success in Japan in 2002 with the release of LISTEN TO MY HEART. By the release of Valenti in 2004, BoA had become a superstar both in Japan and Korea. Two years later when she released “Meri-Chri”, BoA again broke barriers again by releasing a hugely popular Japanese Christmas song.

Most importantly, BoA’s debut in Japan opened the door for the Hallyu Wave of Korean exports, proving that K-pop talent could be marketed internationally. Today, as K-pop has reached a fever pitch of global popularity, it is not a stretch to say that BoA is responsible for this.

BY THE TIME BoA was 25, she had debuted in three countries and scored countless smash hits. But she decided that America would be her last swing at international success. After the failure of her self-titled English-language album in 2009, BoA returned home. She was one of the most accomplished singers in Korean history, but that would be, as she recounted several times, the loneliest stretch of her life.

Over the next fifteen years, BoA’s prominence in Asia would rise. She released several singles that became iconic staples in her discography, including “Only One”, and was frequently hailed as a source of inspiration for rookie idols.

By 2022, when BoA released Forgive Me, she had grown into a woman who commanded respect. Unquestionably, she was responsible for SM Entertainment's success, yet she was frequently overlooked by critics and fans. Her music no longer sold at the rate it once did, and she rarely performed live. While I believe that BoA’s story speaks to many contemporary themes in culture, including ageism against women in music, the Korean diaspora, and the punishing system of K-pop, she has given no interviews to major publications about her career, and no retrospective reviews of her work have been published. (Aside from, on this blog!)

Often, I sensed that BoA’s legacy was being relegated to online forums that older K-pop fans frequented. But overlooking her influence is a disservice to BoA. She is a pioneer; a woman who built the modern day K-pop system on her her back as a teenager. Her only “mistake”, as cultural ageism and sexism proves, is that she grew older.

While promoting Forgive Me, BoA reflected on what she wished to tell commenters who said abusive or demeaning things about her. In a video interview about the song, she said sharply, "I wanted to tell them, 'Your words don't bother me. I'm ignoring all of them.’”

The following year, BoA appeared on Dancing Queens on the Road. The show was a reality program that brought together singers of different generations as they traveled around Korea. The show was most illuminating when BoA opened up to the women about her experiences as an idol, offering the best insight into her career outlook.

“I never knew I’d be a singer this long,” she admitted at one point. All the idols she debuted with, she explained, are no longer working in K-Pop. “I thought I’d do this for five years and then quit.” But then she admitted something startling. “When I was 29, I felt so weird,” she said. “The toughest time of my life was when I turned 30. I had no idea what to do as a female singer. I thought about it so much. The women who were active in my time are no longer active.”

Then her lips curled into a mischievous smile. “But now,” she said with an air of defiance, “I am going to be 40 soon.”

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